On Intentional (Five Minute Friday)...

Happy New Year! Forgive me, I'm a few days late with my salutations, but I wanted to be sure to greet you properly as we are getting settled into 2018. I can't believe another year has come and
gone so quickly. It seems as if time increasingly picks up the pace the older I become. Then I figured out the secret, we had kids. Until I became a parent, never had I witnessed such a large
measure of time pass with such speed. With time being such a precious commodity, and my lack of ability to control it, I believe that there is no time better than the present to firmly set my
heart and hands to spending it wisely.

I've unintentionally taken a break from joining the weekly five minute Friday linkups. Birthday, holidays, and plot twists (my new term for life's interruptions or unexpected changes),
challenenged my schedule to the max. However, I am glad to be back to sharing a moment with you here and with the FMF community. If you are interested in what the linkup and community is all
about, you can find more information here.

The writing prompt for this week is Intentional. And when I think of being intentional, time is probably the most important component of intentional living. I'm going to be completely
trasnparent with you here. I have a time management situation. Because I know (and now accept) this about myself, it is critical that I use various methods and resources to assist me on my
journey. These are by no means new tricks, but they have proven to be helpful when I consistently implement them. Hope you can find a takeaway that will bless you on your journey also.

I sit down at the table and write out my stuff. All of it. Brain dump, lists, planner, scratch paper (as my mom used to call it) anything I can get my hands on to get the information from my
head to paper.

I fill in the blanks. I go back through my smartphone calendar, text messages, social media messages and fill things in at appropriate time slots so that I can actually see where I have (or
don't have) chunks of time.

I edit. This is undoubedtly the most effective of my stratgies. Part of being and living intentionally is to block out time. Time for Jesus, time for family, and especially time for yourself.
I don't always do well at this, but I'm realizing that my life feels like it has more room and space when I get this right.

What I desire most from being intentional is being able to use the time I find to bless others. Whether it be through a blog post, phone call/text, outing, or social media interaction, I realize
that those things can't happen unless I am more cognizant of my time.

My five mintues is up, but I'd love to hear the different or similar ways you are living intentionally. It can something still in the infancy or planning stages, or something you already practice
in your routine. Remember, we're in this together, and always give yourself grace. One of my fellow sisters-in-Christ reminded me of this very thing as she too wrote about being intentional.
"Being intentional means writing with an eraser so my life can breathe." - Chrisina Hubbard